BREAKING AND RIDING 211 



made for men who have ridden a good many 

 bucking horses if they ride with unbecomingly 

 short reins. The fact of the matter is, that it 

 unnerves lots of riders if they feel any moment 

 their horse may buck them off. This applies 

 more to riders of young horses whose tails are 

 not straight out, or when they are tucked tightly 

 into their haunches. When riding three-year- 

 olds it is a natural impulse to hold reins rather 

 short, as the more liberty your mount has, the 

 easier is it for him to kick you off This habit 

 is to be avoided. Not only is it bad horseman- 

 ship, but it looks ungainly, and gives the rider 

 a different kind of seat. He looks rather anxious 

 with both arms stretched out — very different to 

 a finished horseman riding with fairly long reins 

 on a made horse. 



Another point worth noting is the lack of 

 character which is too often shown in a man's 

 hands when he is on a horse. To call him a 

 rider would be hardly accurate, for he jogs along 

 and twists his horse about so awkwardly, that 

 very little sympathy between rider and horse can 

 be detected. 



Some people ride fairly well with the left hand 

 and not well with the right. Others hold their 

 reins well in the right hand and badly in the 

 left. It is a point immediately noticed by all 

 who are thoroughly accustomed to horses. 



If the hands of a rider are good, it by no 

 means follows that his seat gives the impression of 

 strength. Very often a man who is able to twist 

 a well-schooled horse wherever he wishes, appears 



